Women's Volleyball

No. 20 Cal Poly Dominates Gauchos, Grabs 3-0 Sweep

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -
The No. 20 Cal Poly women's volleyball team captured its second Big West conference win over UC Santa Barbara in a 30-17, 30-22, 30-27, sweep Saturday evening in front of a crowd of 2,468 in the Mustang's Mott Gymnasium.

With the loss, the Gauchos fall to 11-8 and 3-3 in the Big West Conference. Cal Poly now stands at 14-4 overall and boasts a perfect 6-0 conference record.

Reigning Big West Player of the Week, Olivia Waldowski, led the Gauchos with 11 kills on 21 attempts with three errors for a .381 clip in the loss. Waldowski was the only Gaucho to post double-digit kills in the match. Stephanie Brandt had 34 assists and three service aces while Emily Hendrickson led with 13 digs.

Kylie Atherstone led all players with 13 kills and 11 digs for Cal Poly while also recording three service aces and four block assists. Chelsea Hayes had 37 assists for the Mustangs and Kristin Jackson had 13 digs. Mustang Alicia Waller also recorded a double-double on the match with 10 kills and 11 digs. Altogether, Cal Poly outblocked UCSB 15 to 4.5.

Atherstone broke through a 5-5 tie early in game one with three straight service aces to grab the Cal Poly advantage. UCSB caught up and tied the game at 11-11 with a service ace from Débora Leite. The Mustangs proceeded to post a 19-6 run to take the game at 30-17 as they outhit the Gauchos .419 to -.028.

Game two saw only one tie early on at 1-1, but the Mustangs grabbed the lead and never relinquished it as they took the second frame at 30-22.

UCSB came out of the locker rooms and put up its best game of the night in the third set. The game saw eight ties and four lead changes with the Gauchos commanding the scoreboard early on. The last tie of the game was at 25-25 before the Mustangs went on a 3-0 run to take the lead. The Gauchos came within one point at 28-27 with a kill from Jamie Garbisch, but a UCSB service error and kill from Atherstone gave Cal Poly the 30-27 win and the 3-0 overall sweep.

UCSB will continue Big West road action next week when they travel to Cal State Northridge on Thursday, Oct. 19 for a 7 p.m. match-up with the Matadors.